The Baba-E-Urdu: Abdul Haq and the Role Of
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The Thesis committee for Elizabeth Anne Bowers Certifies that this is the approved version of the following thesis: The Baba-e-Urdu : Abdul Haq and the Role of Language in Indian Nationalism APPROVED BY SUPERVISING COMMITTEE: Supervisor: ___________________________ Kathryn Hansen ___________________________ Gail Minault The Baba-e-Urdu: Abdul Haq and the Role of Language in Indian Nationalism by Elizabeth Anne Bowers, B.A. Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts The University of Texas at Austin May 2010 The Baba-e-Urdu: Abdul Haq and the Role of Language in Indian Nationalism by Elizabeth Anne Bowers, M.A. The University of Texas at Austin, 2010 SUPERVISOR: Kathryn Hansen Abdul Haq was the secretary of the Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu from 1912 to 1961. He was also a founder of Osmania University, one of the first universities in India to provide instruction in an Indian vernacular. He had a lifelong devotion towards improving the status of Urdu and of the Indian Muslim community at large. He was the figure most involved with the standardization of Urdu and establishment of this language as a symbol of Muslim identity. Through an analysis of Abdul Haq’s involvement in language reform movements and the politics of the early 20 th century, especially considering the fallout after the 1936 meeting of the Bharatiya Sahitya Parishad, I seek to show the nature of language as a nationalist tool. I argue that language is not inherently associated with the nation-building process, but that it must first be standardized into a form which can be used as a political tool and a point of identification for the community rallied behind it. iii Contents CHAPTER ONE : ABDUL HAQ ’S BACKGROUND AND INFLUENCE 1 CHAPTER TWO : THE NATIONAL LANGUAGE DEBATE AND THE 1936 AKHIL BHARATIYA SAHITYA PARISHAD CONFERENCE 25 CHAPTER THREE : LANGUAGE AND NATION FORMATION 54 APPENDIX I: 74 APPENDIX II 76 WORKS CITED 77 VITA 83 iv Chapter One: Abdul Haq’s Background and Influence “Pakistan was not created by Jinnah, nor was it created by Iqbal; it was Urdu that created Pakistan.” 1 These words were spoken in 1961 by Abdul Haq in the last year of his long and controversial life. The truth of his statement is debatable, but beyond fact or fiction it says much more about the process of nation-building which occurred in South Asia in the first half of the 20 th -century. The idea of language being an aspect of the creation of the nation is in no way new. In this thesis, I argue that language itself is not inherently a part of nation- building, but it is a tool of unification and exclusion selected by nationalist groups. I further establish that for language to be used in such a way it must go through a process of standardization utilizing aspects of publication and education reform before it can be used for political purposes. Abdul Haq is a figure mentioned only briefly in current English scholarship, but he was a key player in the standardization and political fate of the Urdu language. By looking at his leadership of institutions like Osmania University and the Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu along with his response to the 1936 meeting of the Bharatiya Sahitya Parishad, I show that Haq was an important figure in the Indian national 1Amrit Rai , A House Divided: The Origin and Development of Hindi/Hindavi (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1984) 264. 1 language debate and in the process through which Urdu became established as a language of identification for the North Indian Muslim community. Though Abdul Haq is a generally overlooked figure in current scholarship, he is portrayed with a very specific image. Often presented as a thoughtful old man with a well-manicured white beard and fez-style topi , he came to be known by a number of names. He is only in passing referred to as “Maulvi Abdul Haq Sahib” in writing, but more commonly writers take to calling him, almost endearingly, “Maulvi Sahib.” Most famously and reverentially, he was bestowed with the nickname “Baba-e-Urdu.” Translated sometimes as “The Father of Urdu” or “The Grand Old Man of Urdu,” 2 this moniker calls to mind a life completely devoted to the cause of this language and those who united behind it. He is known for his influence on literary criticism, Urdu education reform, and for his standardization and modernization of Urdu grammar and vocabulary. Haq was a constant participant in the Urdu literary and linguistic sphere from just before the turn of the century to his death in 1961. The way his opinions and loyalties changed over time when he stepped into the political sphere, especially as a result of the 1936 Bharatiya Sahitya Parishad conference, demonstrates the changing nature and use of language during the nationalist era of pre-partition India. 2 Harish Trivedi, “The Progress of Hindi, Part 2: Hindi and the Nation,” Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia, ed. Sheldon Pollock (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003) 977. 2 Abdul Haq was a contemporary of men like Gandhi and Nehru. Also significant was his status as a product and participant in a time of Muslim intellectual movements including Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan’s Aligarh movement, the founding Osmania University and Haq’s lengthy tenure as the Secretary of the Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu. I look first to Abdul Haq’s biography for clues about what it was that led him to the place in history where he both cooperated and combated with the better known figures of Indian nationalist and independence movements. Abdul Haq was born on August 20 th , 1870, as the second son of Sheikh Ali Hussein. 3 Mukhtaruddin Ahmad adds an interesting note in his biography about the background of Abdul Haq’s name. He writes that previously the men in this family were generally given the name Hassan or Hussein. However, the spiritual guide, or murshid, of Sheikh Ali Hussein prescribed that he should give his sons names involving the suffix Haq which means “the Truth” or “the one true God .” The specific reasons behind this mandate are unknown, but it can be supposed that it was meant to give Sheikh Ali Hussein’s sons an auspicious beginning. In any case, his first son was named Zia ul-Haq and the second, of course, would become the more well-known Baba-e-Urdu , Abdul Haq. 4 It cannot be known whether his name played a part, but Abdul Haq would certainly be destined to do great things. 3 Mukhtar-ud-din Ahmad, Abdul Haq , trans. my own (New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 1991) 11. 4 Ibid. 3 According to Ahmad, Haq was born and spent part of his childhood in a small town near Hapur, U.P. allegedly called Saravah. When Haq was quite young, his family moved to Punjab, where he completed his primary education in the city of Firozpur. 5 In 1888, when Abdul Haq reached age 18 and completed his primary education, he had the great fortune of joining one of the main centers of North Indian Muslim intellectual thought by gaining admission to the Aligarh Muslim Anglo-Oriental College. At this institution, he came under the guidance of famed Muslim intellectuals such as Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan and Mohammad Shibli Nomani. Analyzing Haq’s affiliations and personal convictions post-graduation, it is certain that his time in Aligarh spent in the company of such influential figures and politics had a great impact on the man which he would become. The establishment and influence of Aligarh Muslim Anglo-Oriental College are both matters of great importance when looking at the path which Indian Muslim politics would take in the following decades. This college was, of course, the brainchild of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan. Iqbal writes of Sir Sayyid that he was “the first Indian Muslim who felt the need of a fresh orientation of Islam and worked for it…There can be no denying the fact that this sensitive soul was the first to react to the modern age.” 6 It was precisely this reaction which 5 Ahmad, 12. 6 Tariq Hasan, The Aligarh Movement and the Making of the Indian Muslim Mind: 1857-2002 (New Delhi: Rupa Co, 2006), 47. 4 resulted in the eventual establishing of the college in Aligarh. To understand the reasons behind the establishment of this institution and the great influence it would have on men like Abdul Haq, we must first take a look at Sir Sayyid’s personal ideology. Sir Sayyid was a greatly influential figure in the burgeoning North Indian Muslim intellectual movements at the end of the 19 th century. He was also a highly controversial figure. One might say that anyone who has made any sort of impact on society is bound to make some people uncomfortable. Sir Sayyid, in particular, is often seen as having been a British loyalist. During his time, however, support of continued English presence in India was not an uncommon sentiment. With Sir Sayyid, it is not difficult to draw the conclusion that he had a great admiration for the West. One quite telling letter is cited in Tariq Hasan’s book on the Aligarh movement. Sir Sayyid writes on his opinions of the British during an extended stay in England in 1869. Though he does make sure to mention that he does not “absolve the English in India of discourtesy, and of looking upon the natives of that country as animals and beneath contempt,” 7 the great majority of his letter consists of glowing praise for the English.